Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and, in particular, to a method and system for an effective VPN creation of Virtual Environments (VMs and containers) in local area networks.
Description of the Related Art
A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network, such as the Internet. The VPN enables a computer to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if it were directly connected to the private network, while benefiting from the functionality, security and management policies of the private network. The VPN is created by establishing a virtual point-to-point connection through the use of dedicated connections, virtual tunneling protocols, or traffic encryptions.
The VPN connection across the Internet is similar to a wide area network (WAN) link between sites. From a user's perspective, the extended network resources are accessed in the same way as resources available within the private network. The VPNs allow employees to securely access their company's intranet while traveling outside the office. Similarly, VPNs securely connect geographically separated offices of an organization, creating one cohesive network. The VPN technology is also used by Internet users to connect to proxy servers for the purpose of protecting personal identity and location.
A modern trend of virtualization presents some challenges with regard to creating a VPN. The virtualization technology provides for several Virtual Environments (VEs)—Virtual Machines (VMs) and/or Containers (such as from PARALLELS) implemented on each of the hardware node of a network. If a VPN needs to include VM and/or Containers implemented on different hardware nodes of a network, the connection to corresponding VM or Container should be set up directly and adding new Containers to the VPN can be established through complicated procedures. As an alternative, the broadcasting of VPN packets may be used instead, but it is not secure when packets are routed on the hardware level and such an insecure form of implementation may be rejected by users and system administrators.
Accordingly, a method and system for an efficient and secure VPN creation and reconfiguration for Containers and VMs in any combinations is desired.